The value of used vehicles is a major concern of wholesale buyers and sellers, insurers, and car owners. A principal determinant of the value of a vehicle is its damage history. The reliability of the mechanical and electronic components of both foreign and domestic vehicles has increased to the extent that the main concern of buyers of late model used cars is "Has this been in an accident?" And if the vehicle had collision damage, it is valuable to know if it was serious. Buyers want to know if the damage was confined to a parking lot ding on one body panel, damage to many panels, or perhaps worse, if the vehicle was "sectioned." A sectioned car is one which is fabricated by welding together the halves of two different severely damaged cars. Another serious concern of car buyers who live in coastal and rust belt areas is whether the vehicle's body has hidden rust damage. Whether the vehicle is stolen is now increasingly of concern, too. There is no prior objective, verifiable, and highly accurate method which can easily be used in the field to measure and evaluate both hidden paint and body damage on a vehicle.
It is known that application of paint on mass produced vehicles is one of the most expensive processes in their manufacture. Manufacturer's paint specifications, hereafter termed factory paint standards, include acceptable ranges for paint thickness, surface finish and color on vehicles leaving the factory.
Application of paint to vehicles after they leave the factory is termed "refinishing" and is performed to repair paint damage or as the final step in the repair of body damage. In contrast to manufacturers paint, the refinish industry has no strict, defined paint application specifications comparable to factory standards nor does the refinish industry have any standards which require measuring of these paint parameters. In fact it is rare to find a body shop which has instrumentation to measure surface finish, thickness, and color. Refinish work is almost universally judged by a subjective determination of "good enough" or "not good enough" by the body shop or the customer.